Cross Pollination

Just letting the blog viewers know that there is a new thread on the project over on the ADV Rider Forum.  The forum is mainly focused on Adventure riding.  They describe their mission as 'created to support the horizon-chasing adventure motorcycling community.'   It's a far cry from roadracing but it uses motorcycles and it's practitioners are more likely to take a hacksaw and wrench in hand to improve functionality than most riders are.  Also, adventure riding is fun as hell and a lot more accessable and cheaper than roadracing.  Pick a dirt road and go.

The site's new 'Some Assembly Required' forum is a perfect place for the project and so far it has gotten a warm welcome.  Take a few minutes to browse and you'll see an interesting collection of projects and maybe get the bug to find the horizon.

I have a bunch of pics to put into a couple of posts but my camera is still making its way back to me after our Indy trip, which was a ton of hard work with barely a second to relax.






Check back in a day or so for more.

Nice Surprise for the Weekend

And I don't mean Hurricane Irene!  On short notice I was offered a ride to the Indy GP and a free paddock pass!  Imagine how long it took to reply 'hell yes!'  So instead of hell and high water keeping me away from an event, the hurricane will hit NYC long after we're gone.  I'm going with a group involved in a still not yet finalized Gary Nixon tribute.  We'll be in the garage area behind Gasoline Alley (I like the sound of that) all weekend, likely the only ones with a blue ex-Nixon triumph.  I'll be the guy trying to sneak into each MotoGP garage and get close up shots of the bikes!

If anyone within range of this post will be there drop by and say hi.

Here's to a great weekend of racing at the Brickyard.


Oh, next week I'll be doing a bunch of bike work so more posts are in the pipeline.



Chris

Article in Roadracing World

There is a 3 page article in this month's edition of Roadracing World Magazine, the best US print magazine covering everything from club racing to WSB and MotoGP action.  The full name of the magazine is 'Roadracing World and Motorcycle Technology', making their coverage of my project even more appropriate.

I spent some time on the phone with writer Michael Gougis and then send him a load of images and web references.  Out of that jumbled download he was able to craft a great summary of the project starting from my introduction to roadracing on a vintage RD350 air cooled 2 stroke through to blogging on the V4.

If you don't have a subscription you can check the magazine out at most motorcycle parts and accessory stores or you can go online and view this month's issue electronically on their website.

This week I will get some time and be able to machine the clutch cover and maybe a few other small parts so keep an eye out for an update.


Chris

Some manual work for a change

What to do when it's baking out?  I know, weld some parts!  One of the myriad custom small parts for the bottom end of the engine is a double gear for the electric start system.  Yup, when my rider has rare occurrence of hitting the pavement (of course due to some other rider's error) they'll be no yelling at recalcitrant marshals for assistance here.  A press of the magic button and the bike will start right up and be back in the action.

Several of the electric starter components are sourced from various OEMs and this double gear is one of them.  It needs to have an increased separation between the gear faces than the original part.  To accomplish this I'll start with 2 complete gears, machine one face off of each, then weld a spacer in between with the appropriate jigging to keep both gears and bores properly aligned.

Original gear:

Machining large ring from one part:

Gears machined apart and spacer ring prior to welding:

Assembly pressed together:

and welded:

I used a Miller Syncrowave 250 TIG welder using stainless rod to join the gear pieces with a piece of 1018 steel.  This should provide a weld that is not too hard and does not have too much alloying element diffusion.  I took care to keep heat input to a minimum to avoid losing the hardness of the teeth and let the part cool very slowly to prevent cracking.  The part looks good and both gear faces run true so I can take one more part off the to-do list.

I am waiting for some metric 5C collets to arrive then will finish the oil pump shafting and some other various simple round parts like front suspension arm inner races and rear swingarm link and pivot races.


Chris